What’s a logline and how do you write a really good one that will help you not just when you’ve finished a script but when you’re developing your idea in the first place? Check out these top 3 tips in the quick vid! Or read the blog text underneath.

LOGLINES! Let’s talk loglines! A logline is a one-sentence summary of your story. It’s an industry term, you’ll see them a lot in script reports or hear them mentioned in meetings. They’re really useful because they sharpen up a story’s focus, not just when you’ve finished writing your script but even when you’re in the development phase. So here are top 3 tips to get a super focused story-driven logline.

Number 1! Start with your protagonist and their main characterisation. For example, a maverick New York cop. An over-protective mother. A man suffering from short term memory loss. This tells us what type of person they are, but in the next part of the logline we’re about to find out how this characterisation is going to be relevant to the story.

Number 2! State your protagonist’s primary story objective. For example, a maverick New York cop comes to LA to reconcile with his estranged wife. An over-protective mother won’t allow her sickly children out of the house. A man suffering from short term memory loss is desperate to find out who killed his wife. So these first two elements of the logline provide the narrative spine for your story: the protagonist & their story objective.

Number 3! Establish the protagonist’s main conflict. E.g. A maverick New York cop comes to LA to reconcile with his estranged wife but terrorists take over his wife’s office building and he’s the only one who can stop them. An over-protective mother won’t allow her sickly children out of the house BUT when three creepy housekeepers turn up to help her, strange events occur that suggest the house is haunted. A man suffering from short term memory loss is desperate to find the man who killed his wife BUT he can never remember enough clues to build his evidence and his condition makes him easy to manipulate by others.

That’s it. 3 top tips that will help build a really clear and compelling logline. A protagonist, their primary story objective, and the conflict they face. This is really useful for brainstorming and development as well as when you’ve finished a script and you want to sharpen your pitch.